Operation 2:Operation: Mad Genius
by RavenFeathersOfDarkness
Summary: Chapter 6 is finally here! I'm so eternally, impossibly sorry for taking so long to update. But it's here, so you can relax. Just deleted the author's notes, so that should make it easier. XD Some KowalskiXOC, please review, I crave your opinions!
1. Intro to Operation: Mad Genius

**Story Introduction: ****Operation: Mad Genius**

**Disclaimer:**** …Sigh…I do not own this awesome show. Do I wish I do? Hell, yeah!**

For those who don't know me, I am RavenFeathersOfDarkness [also known as PenguinCrazy14 on ], princess of the shadows, and crusader against all things girly, pink, and sparkly, and shamelessly obsessive fan of the Penguins of Madagascar.

Speaking of the penguins, I have been online almost every day reading fanfics and taking PoM personality quizzes. Of all the quizzes I've taken so far, about 85% of them told me I was most like Kowalski. (The other 15% said I was like either Skipper or Rico. Sorry, Private fans, but I am _nothing _like him.)And I totally agree with those results. I am pretty smart (how can you say that without sounding full of yourself?), I love candy to death, and I really do carry around a clipboard…only I don't defy the laws of everything by pulling it out of thin air. (Think I'm weird? You don't know the half of it. ^^)

So that was on my mind as I was watching television a few weeks ago, and I started to wonder, "You know…me and Kowalski are so alike. I wonder if his temper is anything like mine?..."

And here is where I get attacked by an army of plot bunnies once again.

So, this is where my story starts. Writing an introduction to a story I've been developing in my sleep. (Not joking.)

Before I wrap this up, I've got a few thanks to give:

To Esperata, whose stories were so undeniably awesome, and reminded me of my days as a Skipper fan(and who also gave me the coolest b-day present I've ever gotten);

To Monsy38, whose Marski story was the first one I ever read, and who kept me alive these days;

To knockknocktimerico, who completely understands what it's like to be a secret PoM lover/fanfictioner;

To everyone who joined my Kowalski fan club on Fanpop;

To Sarah Perry, the author of Code Sepia, which was one of the

best fanfictions I've ever read accidentally;

And finally, to Ninjagirly, who I hope never stops that hilarious Q&R fanfiction, which is always the highlight of my day.

All right! A few final words:

-Please review! They are the candy to my inner Kowalski!

-This is actually the second Penguins story I've written, but it is under classified circumstances that this one has been posted first. The real first one will be up soon, though.

-And finally—Sudoku with fractions?! I like Sudoku, and I like fractions, but the two of them together sound like nothing less than_ torture_…

The summary for the story will be in the next chapter, so sayonara for now! ^^


	2. Chapter 1: Same Song,New Lyrics

**Disclaimer: ****Seriously, if I owned this awesome show, would I be here? Probably, because I'd ask you guys for ideas. But, sadly, I cannot, because I do not own this show.**

All right, here's the summary I promised you guys:

Just as Skipper and the team are getting over the events of Operation: Heartbreaker (my first Penguins story; if you wanna know more let me know), another new penguin is introduced to the zoo. And yes, it is a female. Of course Skipper doesn't trust this new arrival for anything, and it turns out that the penguin, Ravena, isn't feeling so trustworthy either. Meanwhile, Dr. Blowhole is getting ready for another attempt to take down the penguins, and he thinks he has a foolproof plan: by taking them down one by one, starting with Kowalski. Unfortunately for Blowhole, this author's not about to let him get away with anything like that, and the results of his latest operation give a cruel meaning to the phrase "It's always the smart ones." Trust me, if you value your lives, you won't try to invoke the fury of a genius.

I am eternally grateful to those who reviewed and story alerted this, it really made my day. It's thanks to you that I am trying my hardest to put new chapters up every week. Don't worry I'm not pushing myself too hard; this is what I love to do. Without further ado I give you Operation: Mad Genius!! ^^

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**Chapter 1:**** Same Song…New Lyrics?**

Skipper's eye twitched as he stared at the crate in front of him

He couldn't believe this was happening again.

Especially so soon after Melody. The humans probably weren't sure exactly what had happened; all they knew was that Melody had suddenly been transferred back to her old zoo.

Of course Skipper, Kowalski, Private, and Rico knew what had happened. And of course no one was ever going to know. But Skipper couldn't believe that the humans had come up with a replacement so easily.

And yet here it was, the large wooden crate that was stirring up all these emotions inside of him. A few feet away, his team was watching him carefully.

"He's been staring at that crate for an awful long time now," whispered Private to Kowalski, who nodded.

Rico seemed to be thinking hard, then said, "Song…bird." Then he sighed.

"Right", Kowalski said. "After the whole incident with Melody…I too would be wary of our new occupant."

Private waddled over to Skipper cautiously. "Um…Skippah?" he asked hesitantly. "Shouldn't we…open the crate now?"

Hearing Private's voice suddenly brought him back to reality. Skipper nearly jumped. "What? Oh…right. Rico! Crowbar!"

Immediately Rico hacked up a crowbar, and tossed it to Skipper, who stuck it into the side of the crate and forced it open.

At first, all you could see was darkness. Then, very slowly the penguins saw a figure shift its position and open its eyes, which stood out gleaming in the dark: an odd color for a penguin, purple. An odd color for most animals, actually.

The penguin inside the crate made a sudden flinching movement, as if they were adjusting to the bright light. The penguins watched as the figure straightened up, then slowly made its way out of the crate.

The new penguin was slightly taller than Rico, but not as tall as Kowalski. They had unnaturally shiny black feathers, which grew over the top of the left side of their head and a little over one eye. They were slim, but not skinny.

And again, (wonder of wonders) it was a girl.

The penguin rubbed her eyes, then blinked. "Sweet stargazing," she muttered to herself. "No one told me there'd be _four_ penguins…"

Then she became aware that Skipper, Rico, Private and Kowalski were still watching her.

"Oh, um…sorry," she said. "My name's Ravena. Nice to, um, meet you guys."

"Right," Skipper said eyeing her. "I'm Skipper. This is Private, that's Kowalski, and that's Rico," he finished, pointing to each of them.

Ravena looked a little surprised at his tone, but she ignored it. "O-kay…you're Skipper, you're Private, you're Rico..and did you say his name was Kowalski?"

"Yeah." Again, he sounded less than friendly, and Ravena took notice of it this time.

Ravena stared at the intellectual penguin for a moment. "Kowalski…Uh-huh…" she said slowly . "Got it."

"Good, now can you tell us exactly where you came from and how you got here?" Skipper asked.

Private and Kowalski glanced at each other, thinking,_ He's not wasting any time with her…_

Ravena frowned. "You know, you've sounded pretty hostile so far, Skipper. Is something wrong?" Private thought she sounded genuinely concerned.

Skipper frowned right back at her. "Oh it's nothing. Just that the last penguin that was transferred here turned out to be a spy working for my mad dolphin nemesis Dr. Blowhole, who's been after me and my team for the longest time. So I'm sorry if I don't trust you."

Kowalski felt sorry for Ravena. He thought Skipper was being hard on her for something he suspected had nothing to do with her. He also took note of the way Ravena's eyes seemed to flash when Skipper had mentioned Blowhole.

He expected Ravena to look shocked or offended. Instead she let out a sigh, and to everyone's surprise, looked down on Skipper with a strangely fierce expression.

"You know, you have every right not to trust me. To be perfectly clear, I really didn't trust you guys either. I mean, I just met you guys, I'm not about to spill my heart about to you. But I swear to you right now, I am _not_, " she put so much emphasis on the word that Private winced, 'nor will I ever be a spy for _anyone_, especially not Dr. Blowhole."

"You know him?" Skipper asked, temporarily dropping his harsh tone.

Ravena looked away, closed her eyes, and sighed again. "Yes, I do," she said after a while, her voice constricted with emotion. " What Dr. Blowhole has put me through is the reason I'm here."

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.._Yeah_..For everyone who wants to set venomous vipers on me for leaving the chapter hanging like that, please hold your fire. I wanna explain some things.

First off, my character's name. One might wonder why one would choose an _original _name like Ravena.(If you are confused look at my username.) Well, since my real name is nowhere near Ravena [it's actually Brittany, but I'm thinking of changing it], it didn't really bother me too much.

Also, the whole 'Sweet stargazing' thing. Ever since I watched "Cat's Cradle", that part when Skipper said "Sweet science of boxing!" I knew that I wanted my OC to have her own weird sayings, so you're gonna be seeing some more of that.

Also, I've been trying to renounce my spoiler ways, but I still suffer from frequent attacks of spoiler-ism, so if anyone wants to know about the latest and upcoming PoM episodes and stuff, just PM me and I'll tell you what I have.

All right, because I'm lazy and don't want to have to do this later, here is a summary for Chapter 2:

**Ravena gives the penguins the full story of how she arrived at the Central Park Zoo. A little while longer, when getting acquainted, Kowalski finds out that he and Ravena have a lot of things in common. Of course, though, it wouldn't be a Penguins fanfiction without Marlene and King Julien, would it? [ Julien: Of course not! How daring of you!] And what exactly made Ravena stare at Kowalski like that? Was it recognition? Was it love? Oh, the tales….the friendships…the revelations…the sucker punch? Not to worry, my readers…all will be made clear soon.**

**Remember:** Reviews, candy, inner Kowalski, pure happiness. Okay?


	3. Chapter 2: Great Minds Think Alike

**Hello, peoples!! RavenFeathersOfDarkness here, and I've got just one thing to say: SUGAR RUSH!!!**

**Let me explain. I bought this bag of super sour strawberry candy a few days ago, and yesterday I was out doing stuff and I decided to see what would happen if I ate a whole bunch of candy at once. I did eat a whole bunch of candy at once, and I've been mega-hyper ever since!! I know the crash is just waiting for the right moment to strike, but I'm gonna take this time to get started on Chapter 2. (I just ate four more today and it's taking all my restraint not to bounce off the walls!! This feels awesome!!)**

**Now let me just say that I've been having a bunch of personal problems lately, and you guys who reviewed and story-alerted and favorited this story are really helping me. So I'm dedicating this to you! ^^**

**Disclaimer:**** As sad as it makes me feel, the only character I own in this story is my OC, Ravena. I don't own the show, either. I do own the television when ever it comes on, though. ^^ And now, on with the fanfiction!!**

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**Chapter 2: ****Great Minds Think Alike**

Ravena sat down and rubbed her face with her flippers. Just the thought of her past life sent her mind into a tailspin.

Skipper stared down at her, evidently lost. He hadn't expected this turn of events and was therefore unsure what to do. Looking over his shoulder he whispered, "Kowalski…options..."

Kowalski pulled out his clipboard from I-wish-I-knew-where, scribbled some stuff down, then said, "…We could walk away and act like nothing happened."

That option made Ravena want to laugh a little bit, but at the same time she was hurt by it.

"Something tells me that's not gonna work," Skipper said. "Give me another."

"Okay…you can apologize and try to comfort her?"

"….All right," Skipper said. He walked over to Ravena and patted her on the shoulder rather awkwardly. "Uh…I'm sorry for sounding so hard on you."

Ravena stood up. "It's okay. It's just that you bringing up also brought up a lot of tough memories. But I'm fine now. Maybe when I've gotten to know you guys a little better, I'll tell you the whole story."

Kowalski, still writing stuff down on his clipboard, looked up. "Skipper, we're going to need another bed for Ravena."

"Yeah, you're right." Skipper looked over at Rico.

Rico smiled crazily and hacked up a knife, a chainsaw, and a stick of dynamite, and jumped down into the penguins' HQ.

Ravena's eyes went wide, and she looked slightly sick. "How was that even possible?"

Skipper thought for a second, and then sighed. "I better go make sure he doesn't blow the place up again." He jumped in after him.

Ravena now looked so utterly confused that Private and Kowalski couldn't help but laugh. "It's a long story," Private said.

"Everything seems to be," Ravena said, shaking her head. Then to their surprise, she jumped into the water and swam to the edge of the habitat.

"Hey, where are you going?" Private called over to her.

She looked back at them, surprised. "I'm going to take a look around the zoo. What, I didn't tell you?"

Kowalski and Private shook his head.

"Oh…sorry about that. I've got this habit of doing things without telling anyone, but with me thinking that I did. That got me in a lot of trouble back at my old zoos."

"Well, maybe it'll be better if I showed you around, that way you don't get lost?" Kowalski asked. Ravena smiled. "Sounds like a plan to me!"

Kowalski turned to Private. "Tell Skipper that I went to go show Ravena around the zoo."

"All right!" Private said, and then jumped down into the HQ.

*******Five minutes later*******

Ravena and Kowalski were walking down towards the otter exhibit.

"So, who lives here?" Ravena asked.

"Just Marlene the otter."

"Hmmm... another girl, huh? What's she like?"

Kowalski thought for a minute. "Well, I suppose you could consider her a friend of ours. Even though a single day never goes by without her and Skipper arguing. But she's okay, compared to some of the _other_ animals in this zoo." [Me: *points neon sign at Julien and clears throat*]

"Oh." Ravena stared at the ground for a moment, and then started to laugh.

Kowalski stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her.

"…What?" Ravena said, looking concerned. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"That laugh." He was talking more to himself than to her. "I haven't heard that laugh since…" His expression turned distant, as if he was remembering something a long time ago.

Ravena's heart skipped a beat. _So…does he remember? _ She slowly nodded her head, waiting for him to finish his sentence. And then—

"Hey, Kowalski, what's up?"

Both Ravena and Kowalski jumped into fighting position. Kowalski relaxed when he saw that it was only Marlene, but Ravena stayed where she was.

"Kowalski, who's that?" Ravena asked. "That's Marlene, the otter I told you about a few seconds ago," he reminded her.

"Oh…right…" Ravena blushed a little bit. _I have got to stop thinking so hard, I'm forgetting everything!_

The brown and white otter swam over and hopped out of her habitat.

"Who's the new penguin?"

"This is Ravena. She arrived this morning."

Marlene smiled. "Hi, Ravena! I'm Marlene. It's nice to finally have another girl to talk to." She held out her paw and Ravena took it, now smiling.

"So, where's Skipper and everyone else?"

"They're back at our habitat. Rico's making a bed for Ravena and Skipper is making sure he doesn't cause any collateral damage."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Nothing too out of the ordinary, then."

Ravena laughed again. Kowalski looked over at her. He was still trying to figure out where he heard that laugh from before.

"I'm just showing her around the zoo right now."

"Did you take her to the lemur habitat yet?" When Kowalski shook his head, Marlene smirked.

"What? Why? Who's at the lemur habitat?"Ravena asked, her curiosity surfacing.

"Well…you'll know when you get there, won't you? Nice meeting you, Ravena, bye, Kowalski!" And with that, Marlene left towards the penguin habitat. Ravena turned to Kowalski.

"Kowalski, who's at the lemur habitat?"

"Lemurs," Kowalski said. "That seems obvious."

"I know _that_, but what kind of lemurs are there? What are their names? What are they like? Come on, let's see!" She began pulling Kowalski in the opposite direction of the lemur habitat.

"Ravena."

"What?" She looked at him.

He pointed behind him. "The lemur habitat is _that_ way."

Ravena blushed again. _She's an easy blusher,_ Kowalski thought. _That also reminds me of someone…_

"Ha ha…sorry. Okay, you lead the way then!"

******Five _more_ minutes later…********

Kowalski and Ravena looked up at the lemur habitat for a few seconds.

"…Are you going to need any help getting up?" Kowalski asked Ravena.

She frowned. "What makes you think I need help getting up there? Is it because I'm a girl? Cause let me tell you something, then—"

"No, that wasn't it!" Kowalski interrupted, holding his hands up. From what he saw of Marlene's temper and his analysis of Ravena so far, he didn't want to get her mad. "I just wasn't sure if you've done this before."

"Oh." Ravena smiled. "Okay, then. But I can get up myself just fine."

[Does this sound familiar? ...Of course it doesn't, because you guys have never read Operation: Heartbreaker! Muhahahaha!...I'm sorry…]

She backed up a few steps, she took a running jump and somersaulted onto the lemur's habitat platform.

Kowalski whistled. "Wow." [Wait a minute…can penguins whistle?]

Ravena beamed. "Thank you!" Then she spun around. "Hey, guys, I'm the new pen..guin?" She looked around. "…Where are they?"

Kowalski jumped up next to her and pointed below them. All three lemurs were on their bouncy.

Ravena's eyes lit up mischievously. "Ooh, I want a piece of that!"

And without another word, she jumped off the platform and onto the bouncy.

She landed with such force that all three lemurs flew off the bouncy and landed hard on the ground.

King Julien, very annoyed at this interruption, straightened his crown and said, "Who is daring to be bouncing the king that is me off of his royal bouncy?"

Ravena smiled and waved a flipper. "Hi, I'm Ravena! I'm new here and I just wanted to meet you guys!"

King Julien looked her up and down. "Another silly flightless bird?"

"Yeah—what?" Ravena looked at Kowalski, who gave her a look that said, _Just don't ask._

After a few more seconds of eyeing her, King Julien snapped his fingers.

"Okay, silly flightless girly bird. You may now commence with the worshipping of me."

The look on Ravena's face was priceless. She gave a humorless laugh, and then asked, "_What_? I'm not worshipping you!"

"Of _course_ you are to be worshipping me, silly penguin. The sky spirits told me that I'd be receiving another loyal royal follower, and by processing of the elimination, it must be you. So hop to it!"

Ravena looked incredulously at Mort and Maurice. Maurice shrugged. "I'd just go with it if I were you," he said.

"I like worshipping!" piped up Mort.

Ravena's beak twitched dangerously, and she smirked. "All right, _King_ Julien. How's about I start by putting my loyal _foot_ up your royal—"

"O_kay_, I think we should be reporting back to headquarters now," Kowalski said hurriedly, putting a flipper over Ravena's beak to prevent her from saying anymore. He began leading her away from the lemurs.

"Be sure to be practicing the groveling at my feet, girly flightless bird!"

King Julien called, completely unaware that his life was previously in danger.

Mort smiled. "I like groveling at the feet!" He reached for King Julien's feet, who immediately flung Mort halfway across the zoo.

Kowalski and Ravena were walking back towards the penguin habitat.

"Hey, why are we going back? I didn't see the whole zoo yet!" Ravena asked.

"Given your present temperament, I decided it would be best if we continued another time…when you're less irritable."

"Oh, good point," Ravena agreed. Then she crossed her flippers. " But the next time that lemur comes near me talking about worshipping him, he's getting decked."

*********Scene change: Back at the HQ***********

Ravena and Kowalski came down the hatch into the penguins' secret base. [It _is_ a secret, right?]

"Fish and chips, man, you're back early! What did you guys do, fly around the zoo?" Skipper asked.

"Actually, Skipper, since we are penguins, it would be biologically impossible for us to be able to fly around anywhere, much less the—"

"I _know_, soldier, it was a joke." Skipper rolled his eyes. Kowalski was book smart, but when it came to stuff like this…

"Hello, Ravena!" exclaimed Private. "Rico's just finished making your bed!" He pointed to a fifth rectangular bunk in the side of the wall, and Rico, who looked a little disappointed that he didn't get to blow anything up. [I feel your pain, dude…]

"Private! Are you always going to go around telling everyone our secrets?" asked Skipper.

"…But that wasn't a secret, sir," Private answered, looking hurt.

"Oh. Sorry. I'm just kind of used to you doing that."

"I'm sorry, Skippah," Private said.

"Not to worry, Private, it's just a habit you're gonna have to break. Now, seriously, why are you two back so early?" Skipper asked, turning back to Kowalski and Ravena.

"Well, everything was going fine until we reached the lemur habitat."

Skipper nodded knowingly. "Ringtail, huh? So what happened? Did he try to make you pledge your eternal loyalty to him?"

"Something along those lines. Kowalski got me outta there before I could damage a little more than his ego…and even that seems impossible."

"I hear you, "Skipper said. "I think we all have wanted to give His Majesty the royal beatdown at some point in time."

"I was hoping that Kowalski could give me the tour some other day", Ravena said.

"We'll have to fit that in with our training schedule, but you might be able to."

"Training schedule?"

"Well, you see, as an elite force, we need to be in top physical condition."

"An elite force? Really?" Ravena's eyes went wide with wonder. "Wow, that's gotta be the coolest—"

She looked over at Kowalski, who was sitting in a corner, tinkering with a mess of metal and wires.

Ravena walked up to him. "….Um is that a time machine?"

Kowalski blinked, but didn't look up. "…Yes it is."

"Can I help you with it?"

_That_ made Kowalski look up. No one had ever asked to help with his experiments and inventions, mostly for fear of losing a vital organ or something. "You really want to help?"

"Sure! I love making inventions!" She sat down next to him. Then she frowned. "Um…you've got your wires crossed the wrong way."

"What?"

She picked up a set of red and purple wires. "You crossed these wires the wrong way. If you plug them in here, this light'll flash yellow," she plugged the wires into a socket, and the light on top of the time machine glowed yellow, "and you'll end up tearing a hole in space, not time. If you cross them this way…"

She pulled the wires apart and began twisting them together in the opposite direction. "…Then the light's gonna flash green, which will make you good to go for time travel once the rest of the machine is finished. But actually the thought of a dimension-crossing machine sounds really interesting…" She plugged the re-crossed wires into the wall, and the light flashed green. "Ta-da!"

Kowalski's jaw dropped. Of all the things Ravena had done and said, nothing amazed him more than this.

"…Wow," he said after a while. "Thanks for telling me that."

"No problem," Ravena replied, glowing. "Now we can start on the—"

"Ringtail!" Skipper barked, catching everyone's attention.

"Oh, for the love of…" Ravena rolled her eyes and turned around.

Standing near the refrigerator was the royal pain himself, flanked by Mort and Maurice.

"Do not to be worrying, testy penguin. I was merely taking your delicious cake for my—"

"Can it, Ringtail. How many times do we have to tell you, that food is not and will never be for you. Do I have to set Rico on you?"

Rico looked up, and hacked up a flamethrower, laughing maniacally.

King Julien didn't seem to care. "There is no need for the opening of the hostilities, flightless bird. And speaking of flightless birds…" King Julien had spotted Ravena.

"Sweet supernova, if you value your life, you won't say anything to me, lemur," Ravena said under her breath. But—

"Are you coming to your senses and being ready to worship the royal King that is—"

Julien never finished his sentence, because Ravena had wordlessly marched over to him and sucker-punched him in the face. Julien fell to the ground, out cold.

There was a long silence, in which everyone stared at Ravena. "He had it coming to him," was her only explanation.

After a while everyone except Mort, who was taking this opportunity to hug Julien's feet uninterrupted, began to laugh.

"You can say that again," Skipper said.

Kowalski looked at Ravena, a smile still on his face. "Ravena, I'd like to do a psyche screening with you tomorrow. Is that okay?"

"As long as it doesn't hurt, it's all right with me."

Ravena watched as Kowalski walked over to Skipper. A smile pulled at her beak, too.

_You've really come a long way, Kowalski. I wonder how long it will take you to remember me,_ she thought.

…**Finally, I'm done. There's a lot of things in this chapter that need explaining, but I'll do that next chapter. First off, let me get down on my knees and beg for you guys' forgiveness in taking so long to update. I had to face off against the flu, massive writer's block, and…shudder…high school. But hopefully I'll get started on Chapter 3 Monday. Until then, constructive criticism, not destructive criticism. I had a lot of mixed feelings about this extremely long chapter, so I'd love your opinions on it. Please review!**

**That's all I gotta say, so Sayonara for now! ^^**


	4. Chapter 3: Psych Screening Again

**Hello, RavenFeathers here. I've finally gotten started on Chapter 3!! *does victory dance* All right, like I promised, the explanations for Chapter 2.**

**Warning: **** The following explanations might make this chapter seem longer than it actually is.**

…**.Okay, to start, for those who are interested in Ravena's personal story, there's a possibility that it might not be revealed until Operation: Matchmaker. [If anyone's giving the screen a 'what the hell is that?' look, one, it's offending your computer screen, and two, just read my profile for the summary of that story.] The reason is that I wanted this story to be mostly Kowalski-centric, and I'm afraid of deviating from the original plot. But, who knows. Enough reviews from Ravena fans demanding to know her life's story might just change that. Besides, I have a feeling this'll be a very long story.**

**Also, you might be wondering what caused Ravena to lose her temper with Julien so fast. [Then again, you might not. You might understand completely.] Well, Ravena's got a serious problem with people who are convinced that they are superior to others, and Julien is no exception. [Actually, I've got the same issue.] And for those who applaud Ravena for doing what they've always wanted to do [or at least what I've wanted to do], I'm with you all the way. **

**And for the people who are dying to know the connection between Ravena and Kowalski, if you can't wait until later on in this chapter to find out, you can go to my profile again and read Ravena's character description. If you can wait, forget I wrote this. Erase this from your memory. [*waves arms like Skipper* You didn't see anything…]**

**Lastly, to everyone who reviewed Chapter 2, thanks a bunch. 9 reviews in total is a new record considering this is the 2****nd**** story I've posted online, and my first story only has…wow, 9 reviews. Well, considering that my 1****st**** story has about 4 chapters and this one only has 2 and I've already got 9 reviews for it, and they're all good ones, it's still sort of a record. So thanks anyway. Double thanks to the people who said they like my character, I like her too. ^^**

…**Oh, wait, one more thing. Is anyone else suspicious about the fact that all the new animals are coming from the Hoboken Zoo? Smells like conspiracy to me, what do you guys think?**

**Disclaimer:** **…Honestly, how many times do I have to say it? I do not own this show. Nickelodeon and DreamWorks and whoever else owns this show, okay? That is not to say that I'm not deviously planning to overthrow the owners and take over myself. I didn't say that at all…**

**Okay, hope you like Chapter 3! Peanut butter winkies, dudes!!! ^^**

***************Chapter 3: ****Psych Screening Again*************

Kowalski held up two colored sheets of paper. "Red or blue?"

Ravena thought for a second. "…Red."

Kowalski scribbled down something on his clipboard. Then he held up two more sheets of paper. "Green or purple?"

"Purple," Ravena said without hesitating.

Kowalski nodded, and then scribbled some more things down on his clipboard.

[…Okay, if you're confused, here's how Kowalski's psych screening goes. He asks a bunch of seemingly pointless questions, and from your answers he can figure out your temperament, your intelligence, your best qualities and your worst qualities, and your attention span. No one's psych screening is the same. Does that help?]

Ravena and Kowalski were sitting in a corner in the HQ. Skipper and Private were playing Stomp the Wombat [does that sound like a fun game or what?] and Rico was watching a documentary on the development of bombs.

"Okay," Kowalski said," what is your favorite number?"

"56," Ravena answered. "56 is the best number in the world."

He wrote that down too. "…What's your least favorite number?"

"Any number that repeats itself, like 33 or 77."

"All right…what came first, the chicken or the egg?"

Ravena thought hard. " Um…let's see…A circle has no beginning."

Kowalski paused in his writing.

"Wow. Good answer," Kowalski complimented, a smile spreading across his face as he resumed his scribbling. "What are your hobbies?'

"Well, I like to draw, and work on inventions, as you already know, and I really like to read. Also I like practicing karate." Ravena stopped, frowning. Kowalski was staring at her again. "What?"

"You know how to read?"

"Yeah! Why, you don't?" When he shook his head, Ravena shrugged. "…Well, if you want, maybe I can teach you one of these days."

"Really?" Kowalski looked hopeful. Seeing as Phil was the only animal who could read, it was one of the penguins' few weaknesses.

"Sure, it's not a problem. Just don't ask me how I know how to read. A girl's gotta have her secrets, you know." She shrugged. "All right, let's get on with this psych screening thing."

But Kowalski's mind was now on other things. Something Ravena said had stirred something in his memory. It was strange, she seemed so familiar...almost like he knew her from somewhere….And slowly, very slowly, it started to come to him.

*-------Ha ha ha, flashback time! --------*

_, Kowalski was sitting down at a table in the mess hall when he was approached by a female penguin with bright purple eyes and shiny black feathers that hung over one eye. "Hey, there, I'm Ravena! I'm in your squad. Pretty cool finally getting to take on missions as a team, isn't it?"_

_Kowalski looked at her for a second. "Hello, I'm Kowalski…yeah, it is cool, I guess."_

_Ravena sat down next to him. "Come on, you should sound happier than that! At least a while from now you'll be out there on the front lines taking out enemy soldiers left and right. For some reason every body seems to think that a girl can't handle all that hardcore commando action."_

"_Well, it has been discovered that the female skeleton is less dense and more prone to breakage than the male skeleton," Kowalski pointed out. "It would be more difficult for a girl to withstand certain positions, say, being a combat pilot."_

"_Oh, really?" Ravena asked, raising her brow. She got up and re-sat herself so that she was facing Kowalski. She held out a flipper. "Arm wrestle me. Right now."_

"_What?" Kowalski blinked at her._

"_You heard me! Come on, try me!" She smirked at him. "I'll show you how 'prone to breakage' __**my **__skeleton is!"_

_Kowalski eyed her for a few more seconds, and then after realizing that she was dead set on this, he sighed. "Fine," he relented. He grabbed her flipper and the two engaged in what was soon to become an epic arm wrestling battle to end all others, and had everyone in the mess hall watching. 20 minutes later, they were still at it. Both of them were tired and neither of them wanted to back down. The score was tied at six wins each._

"…_So, you still think a girl can't handle the tough stuff?" Ravena said, grinning. "Ready to give up?"_

"_Actually, what we're doing right now is virtually irrelevant, as I doubt we would be arm-wrestling our enemies. And no, I'm not ready to give up."_

_He couldn't figure out why he had agreed to arm-wrestle her in the first place; if it had been anyone else he would have refused. _

_A few more minutes passed, and finally Ravena sighed. "I just thought of something. We're gonna tire ourselves out doing this all day. Why don't we just stop and continue this tomorrow? Besides, I've gotta go practice before lights out."_

"_Practice what?" Kowalski asked, relaxing his grip on her flipper._

_Ravena smirked and slammed his flipper down on the table. "That's classified, soldier. A girl's gotta have her secrets. See you in the AM, Kowalski!" She waved, laughing, as she walked off in the opposite direction._

_Kowalski stared after her, and then shook his head. "…I can only wonder what kind of missions _we'll_ be having." He thought for a moment, and then yelled after her, "And that didn't count!" He smirked when he got another laugh in response._

_*--------_Okay, end of flashback--------*

Ravena cleared her throat. "…Um…Kowalski? You still there?"

He had been staring wide eyed at a point above her head for at least 30 seconds.

She sighed and waved her flipper in his face. "Hello? Earth to Kowalski?"

Suddenly he smirked at her. "…It still doesn't count," was all he said.

Ravena frowned at him. "What are you talking a…" Her eyes widened, and then she let out a scream of joy, "You finally remembered!!" And then proceeded to tackle him in a hug.

Skipper, Private and Rico turned around, confused. "What in the name of candied yams is going on, soldiers? I thought you guys were just doing a psych screening." Skipper said, glaring.

"Sorry, Skipper," Ravena apologized, still giggling. "It's just that Kowalski and I go _way_ back, and it took him until just now to remember me." She let go of Kowalski, who sat up, grinning.

Skipper raised his eyebrow to Kowalski, who cleared his throat. "Me and Ravena were in the same squad a while before I got assigned to this one," he explained. "Ravena got assigned to a mission outside the U.S. and we hadn't seen each other since…well, up until now."

"You never told us you were in the military before," Private said to Ravena.

She shrugged. "I guess it never came up. Sorry for not telling you guys before."

She rubbed the back of her head. "Um, anyways…let's get on with that psych screening already!"

"Oh…" Kowalski looked down at his clipboard. "We're done, actually."

"Really? That was short," Ravena remarked.

"All right," Skipper said. "Let's just see what kind of recruit we've got here."

"Okay…So far I can tell that Ravena is a very mixed kind of penguin, she has a short temper, she is more likely to get angry than get sad, and she is not prone to jealousy as much as most people are. She is a very independent kind of girl, but she can work in a team as long as she isn't surrounded by the same type of people, she likes to make up for what people in her team lack. Her best qualities are that she's a hard worker, she has a good sense of humor and strong morals, she isn't easily corrupted, and she has a very high threshold for pain."

Kowalski looked at his board again. "Her not-so-good qualities are that she is very temperamental, has superiority and authority problems, and she tends to have violent mood swings. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that her IQ is…183."

Ravena was wide-eyed. "Wow. He read me like a children's book."

"…I thought I told you I can't read," Kowalski said, confused. Ravena rolled her eyes playfully. "Just an expression, stupid. I meant you totally got me."

"Well, I suppose knowing you for quite some time helps, too," Kowalski said with a half-smirk.

Ravena turned to Skipper. "I would like to add that I love strawberry soda, and kickin' some serious butt. Plus I can be a little bit….random sometimes. But it's usually not a problem."

"Well, my friend, I think you'd fit right in. Welcome to the team, soldier," Skipper said, holding his flipper out. Ravena's face lit up. She grabbed it, saying, "Thanks, Skipper! I won't disappoint you!"

"Just so you know, training is first thing in the AM."

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the military way. And speaking of the military…"She eyed Kowalski, who was mixing some chemicals at the table, mischievously. "Hey, let's finish that arm-wrestling thing now!"

Private waddled up to Skipper just in time to see Ravena tackle Kowalski once again.

"…Skippah, is she all right?" Private asked.

Skipper looked at Private, then back at Kowalski, who was now glaring at Ravena.

He couldn't help but laugh at the two of them. "Actually Private, I'm more worried about Kowalski."

****Later that night****

It was time for lights out, and Skipper was doing a quick roll call when he realized that Ravena was missing.

"Kowalski!" he said. "Where did Ravena go?"

Kowalski thought for a minute, and frowned. He remembered Ravena saying she was tired, but instead of climbing into her bunk, she had gone up the ladder.

"Perhaps she wanted to finish looking around the zoo," he offered. "Well, she could have given us a warning before she disappears without a trace," Skipper said, scowling. "We're gonna have to do something about that. You three wait here, watch the base."

He climbed up the ladder and walked about five steps before tripping over something fairly large, black, and white. Something with purple eyes…?

Sitting up, he blinked, "Ravena?" he asked, surprised. "What are you doing up here?"

Ravena sat up, too, rubbing her eyes. "..Sleeping, Skipper," she replied tiredly.

"Why are you sleeping up here? We have a bunk for you, you know."

"Yeah, but…" Ravena avoided his eyes, then smiled. "Never mind." She stood up and stretched. "All right, I'm coming. Sorry about that."

Skipper eyed her. "Just don't do that again. Going AWOL on your second day here isn't the best way to start out."

Ravena laughed. "Okay, I won't do it again, I promise."

She walked over to the ladder and jumped down.

Skipper stared at the entrance. "Note to self: Keep an eye on Ravena," he said to himself, and jumped down the ladder too.

* * *

**All right, I know it's taken me sooooo long to update, but like I said, I'm writing this in school, and the computers have been down for a while. Big thanks to Littlebirdy and Monsy38, it's thanks to you that I haven't lost my mind, plus your stories are just too cool, you deserve all the praise I'm sure you get.**

**Okay, the next chapter is gonna be in Dr. Blowhole's lair. I fancied a change of scenery, plus this chapter would probably clear some things up, while at the same time adding something else for you to think about. I think it's time for me to go now, and please review like you guys have been doing. I'm wondering what you guys think of this chapter. I'm gonna dedicate every chapter to my friends and favorite authors now, cause I just love you guys so much!! See ya next time! ^^**


	5. Chapter 4: Two Birds With One Stone

…**Hey, everyone! This is a dull-eyed, yawning RavenFeathersOfDarkness, and even though it's 10 in the morning, I'm still tired! But never mind that, I've been itching to get this chapter typed up and posted. I've had it written since January, and it was eating away at me all this time.**

**Okay, I'll dedicate this chapter to a few people: Firstly to penguinsfan123, my new friend on Fanpop, you totally rock!! **

**Secondly, to Yokai Summoner, thanks so much for reviewing, I just love your penname to death!! Boomshakana right back to ya! [Honestly, I didn't know anyone else liked to say that. The first time I heard Kowalski say that it became my favorite phrase!] And thirdly, to evvie, the author of Living in Oblivion, for a different kind of spin on one of my favorite pairings.**

**Also, I'd like to add a special dedication to Spottedpaw13. Thanks eternally for dedicating that chapter to me, it totally made my morning! You're an awesome writer too!! **

**All right, before I start rambling on about something unimportant, here's Chapter 4!!**

*************Chapter 4: Two Birds with One Stone****************

**[This scene is happening around the time Kowalski's giving his results of Ravena's psych screening]**

Dr. Blowhole swam around in his tank before looking at the penguin in front of him.

"..We need a new plan," the penguin finally said.

Dr. Blowhole sneered. "That is evident, Jack," he replied shortly. "It appears Skipper and his team are greater adversaries than we thought."

"I agree. We send in one of our best agents to get to Skipper, and she ends up defecting and helping him escape." The penguin, named Jack, thought hard. "Maybe we've been looking at this the wrong way."

Dr. Blowhole stopped swimming and focused on his second-in-command, his finest agent. "Explain."

"All this time we've formed our plans with our primary focus on first taking down Skipper, then the rest of his team."

"Yes…"

"Maybe we need to reverse that focus. Maybe we need to start going after the _members_ of Skipper's team, so that when we seek to take him down, he won't have any backup."

"Hmmm…" Dr. Blowhole's black eyes glittered. "That's not a bad idea…not a bad idea at all…After all, Skipper _is_ a team player, so it would be hard for him to play without any team…"

Jack smiled. "Exactly. Now the question is, who do we go after first, and how do we go after him without the others noticing?"

Dr. Blowhole paused. "Well, first off, we need to take down the one who'd be able to come up with a plan if another went missing…someone who'd be smart enough to find the smallest clue and track us down on that."

He looked down. "Turn on the cameras. I've got it."

Jack picked up a remote control and pressed a red button. Suddenly the wall opposite him opened up to reveal a wide stretch of camera screens, all showing inside, outside and around the penguins' habitat.

"Over here," the dolphin said, pointing to a camera on the far right. It showed two penguins standing near a table. One penguin was holding two glass tubes and looking nothing short of irritated, glaring at the other who was smiling sheepishly, her flippers up in a surrendering position. She was saying "Sorry" over and over. Jack's eyes narrowed.

Dr. Blowhole smiled, and gestured toward the obviously annoyed penguin. "We're going after him. His name's Kowalski. He was the one who got to Agent Songbird and was able to use her information to track down Skipper and find us. He's our guy."

"You sure?" Jack's voice had a strange sharpness to it.

"Definitely. He's Skipper's lieutenant, his strategy guy. The one who comes up with all the options. I figure if we take away Skipper's options, we take away most of his chances at retaliation."

"Sounds like a plan to me,' Jack approved, his eyes still glued to the screen.

Dr. Blowhole followed his gaze, to the smiling female penguin next to Kowalski. "Hm..I don't remember seeing her around their headquarters before."

Jack just frowned harder, getting his superior's attention. "…What's wrong?"

Jack pointed his flipper at the screen. "Her. You don't remember who she is?"

Dr. Blowhole narrowed his eyes in concentration. Then he grinned. "_Oh_…I remember her now. I wonder why it took me so long—after all, we spent so much time tracking _her _ down as well."

"Ravena." Jack spat her name out like it was choking him. "Her name is Ravena. But you knew her as the future Agent Blackbird."

"Yes…she was very special, wasn't she? She would have made quite an addition to our team…That fact that she's managed to hide form us up until now proves that. But it seems like she's joined Skipper's team…Yet another loss to my enemy…" Dr. Blowhole finished in a deadly quiet voice.

'We could get her back."

"What?"

"We could get her back," Jack replied. "And get this Kowalski guy too…That would make things pretty even, wouldn't it?"

Dr. Blowhole analyzed his agent carefully before smirking. "Yes…that _does_ sound promising…Not that I'd stop at being even, of course. I take one of Skipper's men down…and you can have your girl back. Although I don't think she'd be very happy to see you again…."

"She's not my girl!" Jack nearly shouted. "All that matters is that we have a plan now."

Dr. Blow hole chuckled darkly. "We do have a plan, don't we? Now all we need to do is put that plan into action."

* * *

**Let me start out with a simple quote: "Are you as totally stoked about this as I am?!"**

…**Probably not, but I've really gotten into writing this story now, and seeing as this is the last chapter I've written out, now I can just let the rest flow, and that's how I like to write.**

**Also, once again I'd like to explain a few things. Yes, I've created yet **_**another**_** OC. When will the madness end, you ask? Well, I've got one more OC, but she won't be introduced until…well, not anywhere in this story. But she will show up in one of my stories, following the same plot line as this one.**

**Also, in my "Operations" series, the whole Operation: Blowhole thing never happened. [I did watch it, though, and I loved it!] My version of Blowhole is a lot more sinister than the actual version, and you'd be surprised at some of the things he does later on. And if you're wondering why he has a penguin as his right-hand man, it's a long story which will probably be revealed partly in the next chapter, and more fully in the next story.**

**All right, as for a summary of Chapter 5, I realized that I never actually wrote about what I was going to in Chapter 2, I think it was, which was the reason why Ravena arrived at the zoo, so that's gonna be the topic of Chapter 5. Sorry these chapters are so short, this chapter took up four pages in my notebook, but I made some revisions while I was typing. **

**Thanks a million for reviewing, everyone, and I'm totally open to any advice on how to make my chapters better. Sayonara for now! ^^**


	6. Chapter 5: More Than Meets the Eye

**Hey, people of the cyber universe, this, once again, is RavenFeathersOfDarkness, who really shouldn't be writing right now…*tries to pull self away from keyboard*…You know, there really is no point in trying, I can't help myself when it comes to this…Sigh…All right, anyway, even though I said I won't be posting any new chapters for about a week, this one idea for this chapter just came to me as I was reading you guys' reviews, and I couldn't get it out of my head, no matter what methods of mindless distraction I used. [And it didn't help that everywhere I went for the last 4 days, I was reminded of the Penguins. Why does fate like to torture me?!...]**

**Anyway, after a chat with one of my friends, I decided that until I close my poll, I will continue to write this story, because, one, like I mentioned in my profile, this happens to be my favorite story out of all the ones I'm going to write, and two, I just can't ignore all you nice people and all your nice reviews. Plus if I don't do **_**something **_**I'm going to go crazy, so here I am.**

**Okay, this chapter might be a little…um...what's the word? Dark-themed, maybe? It's gonna be about why Ravena came to the Central Park Zoo, how she knows Jack and Dr. Blowhole. It's because of this chapter, and the ones that follow, that I am changing the genre and maybe the rating, because there's gonna be some violence. Oh, and I'm gonna put Marlene and Julien in here, too, cause I haven't been showing them much love lately.**

**Okay, I'm dedicating this chapter to Kila, my rebel friend on Fanpop who's so awesome in so many ways, and who really should start posting on this site. Also to knockknocktimerico, one of the masters of fanfictioning, and who is also indescribably awesome. Much love to you guys! ^^**

****************Chapter 5: More Than Meets the Eye******************

_Ravena sighed. It was probably 1:00 at night, and she was beginning to lose hope that she'd ever find her way back home. How she let herself get captured by that egotistical dolphin was beyond her. Maybe it was the fact that her usually fast reflexes and rational way of thinking were still out of whack, even though it had been weeks since _it _happened._

_The very thought made Ravena's eyes burn. _I'm so sorry, Mom….and Dad…

_All she could do now was apologize, and it would never be enough._

_It was all she could do not to break down completely. _Don't, _she thought. _Don't let him think he's finally gotten to you. _So instead she pulled her feet up to her chest, buried her face in her flippers, and let the tears fall silently, her shoulders shaking. Her occasional sniffling echoed inside the hollow cell._

_Somehow Dr. Blowhole had managed to take her whole world—everything that mattered to her—and shatter it into a million lifeless pieces around her. _

_She might have been able to retaliate against him, had it not been for the biggest shock, the cruelest blow of all._

_Betrayed by someone she considered her best friend. Maybe even something more…_

_And it was that thought that slowly transformed all of Ravena's sadness, her despair, her desperation, into frustration, anger, and full-blown hatred._

_She stood up and began walking towards the titanium door. And with every step she took, her fury burned brighter, until she could almost feel it searing her heart._

_She leaned both her flippers against the cold metal door. She could hear voices on the other side, two of them. The voices she would recognize anywhere._

"…_I don't see why you have to keep her locked in there," the first voice said. He sounded slightly nervous. "I mean, she's not a prisoner, right?"_

"_Of course she isn't," the second voice said. "This is just a test. I want to see how long it takes before that resilient spirit of hers breaks."_

"_Oh, something's gonna break, all right," Ravena said under her breath. She pounded her flipper against the door. "Let me out!" she shouted. "I already told you I'm not working for you!"_

"_And _I _already told _you _this wasn't your choice, _Agent_," he added in a mocking tone that sent angry shivers down Ravena's spine._

"_Don't call me that!" she yelled. "I am not your agent, I am not your operative, I am not your secret weapon, I am not your _anything_! Now you better let me out before I break this door down myself!!"_

"_..Maybe we should let her out, sir," the nervous voice said. "She doesn't sound too happy."_

_Dr. Blowhole just laughed. "She can't break the door down, Jack. It's solid titanium. She can try all she wants."_

_Ravena smirked. That was all the invitation she needed. She stepped back, closed her eyes, and slammed her flipper into the door with all the force she could muster, and to Jack and Dr. Blowhole's great surprise, the door swung open and fell to the ground with a loud boom._

_Ravena raised an eyebrow in defiance. "Always expect the unexpected," she said._

_Her beak curled into a scowl as she stared at the two animals she hated more than anything, anyone else in the world. Jack thought she looked positively murderous._

_Apparently Dr. Blowhole thought so too, for he called, "Lobsters!"_

_Immediately a large army of lobsters came swarming into the base, claws primed, ready for battle._

_Ravena wasn't fazed. She had lived through this nightmare over and over again, and it was going to end the same way it always did._

_The army of lobsters charged towards her, as she took a fighting stance and punched the lobster nearest to her, and roundhoused the next wave of Dr. Blowhole's army._

_Just as she thought, it was happening the same way it always did._

_Or was it?..._

_Suddenly a pair of flippers grabbed her own and held her behind her back._

"_What the--?" Ravena turned her head, but she couldn't see who was behind her._

"_Let go!"_

"Ravena, you need to wake up!"

_Confused, Ravena blinked. "..What?" she asked. That sounded like Kowalski…_

"You're acting in your sleep, Ravena, you have to wake up!"

_Suddenly Ravena felt a sharp sting across her face, like an invisible flipper had slapped her._

_She blinked. Dr. Blowhole's base was changing…It was starting to look a lot like the penguins' HQ…._

* * *

Ravena blinked again. The room finally came into sharper focus. She was definitely inside the HQ now, but someone was still holding her flippers behind her.

She let out a breath. "…Another dream," she said, frowning. Then she looked at Skipper, who was standing in front of her with an odd mixture of concern and irritation on his face.

"…Skipper, was it you who just smacked me?" she asked. He nodded.

"Well, what for?"

"Well, soldier, you probably didn't realize it, but you were attacking your teammates in your sleep, and we couldn't wake you up any other way."

"Oh my God, really?" Ravena took a better look at the other penguins. Rico had a bruise on the side of his face, and Private was rubbing his flipper in pain. Then she realized it was Kowalski who still had a hold on her.

"..Um, you can let me go now, I'm not gonna hurt anyone anymore, I promise," she said. She turned her head to see that Kowalski wasn't looking at her, but at Skipper, waiting for him to give him the OK.

Skipper nodded, and Kowalski let her go. Ravena brought her flippers to her mouth. "..I'm _so_ sorry…"

"This isn't gonna be a recurring problem, is it?" Skipper asked with a frown.

Ravena rubbed her head, thinking. "No…but…this hasn't happened since…since before I left for the military…"

She narrowed her eyes. "This shouldn't have happened again."

"What were you dreaming about?" Kowalski asked.

"…The time Jack and Dr. Blowhole captured me," Ravena answered softly.

"Who's Jack?" Private asked. Ravena scowled. "My second mortal enemy, who I have sworn to take down along with that swollen-headed dolphin." The last few words sounded almost like a snarl.

"Oh," Private said, wishing he hadn't asked.

"That reminds me, you haven't exactly told us what happened between you two," Skipper said.

Kowalski looked at his clipboard. "Um, that might have to wait, Skipper. According to our schedule, we were supposed to go topside for our morning exercises a half hour ago."

"Hoover Dam, you're right!" Skipper exclaimed. "Looks like your intel will have to wait, Ravena," he told her. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

"No problem, Skipper," Ravena said with a salute. "I could use some training to blow off some steam."

She climbed up the ladder. She took a few seconds to take in that fresh New York City air [*cough, cough* Sarcasm anyone? I live near NYC, so…yeah] before—

SMACK!

Skipper and the team heard a loud noise followed by a cry of "Ow! What the hell was that?"

The penguins quickly made their way up the ladder to find Ravena sitting down, rubbing her head. She looked around to see what had hit her, when her lavender eyes rested on a small white ball. "…Where did this golf ball even come from?!" she exclaimed. "What a weird morning…"

Skipper and the team shared knowing looks. "Should we tell her?" Private said, looking towards the lemur habitat, where Julien was playing his version of golf.

Skipper looked over at Ravena. Fortunately her eyes were closed as she continued to rub her forehead. A laugh almost managed to escape him. "I think she's already had enough to deal with, Private. Besides, I don't think the zookeepers would take it too lightly if one of their animals murdered the other."

Rico laughed maniacally. "Kaboom!" he said.

Kowalski shook his head. "You know, I think she might actually go for that one, Rico."

* * *

It was 3:00 in the afternoon, and the penguins were on a recon mission around the zoo. Skipper had taken Alice's office, Rico and Private were covering the zoovenir shop and the reptile house, and Ravena and Kowalski were covering the animals' habitats.

Kowalski looked over at her. "Are you okay?"

Ravena jumped; she had been lost in thought. Kowalski knew that feeling all too well.

"Oh…yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to adjust to all this. Back at my old zoo, it was just me, my parents, my sister…." She trailed off. "I'm just not used to living with four guy penguins, that's all."

"I thought the military would have gotten you used to that by now," Kowalski said, frowning.

"Well, after I left the military, I was on my own for a while. I had to travel alone; couldn't risk anything or anyone letting Dr. Blowhole know where I was, at least until I reached somewhere safe. And it looks like I've found that here. I mean, I can trust you guys, right?" She smiled.

Kowalski looked at her for a little longer. "…Why was he looking for you so much? Was it something you did?"

Ravena shook her head and laughed. "No. Let's just say I had something he always wanted but will never quite have." She went back to what she was supposed to be doing, looking through the binoculars. "Well, the chimpanzee habitat is secure, as with the gorillas, the baboons, the otter and the kangaroo habitat."

"Flamingo, ostrich, and rhino habitats are all secure, and lemur habitat is…well, as normal as it can be." Kowalski said, writing on the clipboard he pulled from thin air.

"Not at all, then," Ravena said, as the two shared a laugh. "Okay, all we need to do now is check out the elephant habitat, and we can report back to Skipper."

The two of them began walking towards Burt's habitat when Ravena stopped dead and looked behind her. "…Did you hear that?" she asked.

"No," Kowalski answered. They stood still, both listening. Then Kowalski heard it—the rustling of leaves in the bush behind them.

For a while, neither of them moved. Then Kowalski walked over to the bush and peered behind it. "…There's nothing here, Ravena," he finally said.

"Maybe it was a breeze or something," Ravena said, although the tone of her voice betrayed her uncertainty. She took another look through her binoculars to calm her nerves. "Um…Kowalski? I think Burt's got too many peanuts stuck up his nose."

Kowalski sighed. Burt was stuck on peanuts like he was stuck on candy. But, then again, peanuts _were_ Burt's food… "All right, let's go help him."

"Do you think we should tell Skipper about what we heard?" Ravena asked, walking up to him.

"He did tell us to report anything we considered suspicious," the intellectual penguin answered. "Although we could just be paranoid…"

He gave the bush a final, cursory glance before turning his attention to their current problem.

* * *

A few hours later, Skipper, Kowalski, Private, Rico and Ravena were back at the HQ, eating dinner.

"…so I asked Kowalski if he had heard it, too, but he didn't. So we stood still for a minute, and then we both heard it again. But when Kowalski looked behind it, nothing was there. I'm not sure what it could be, should we go out to investigate it later?"

Skipper took a sip of his trademark fish coffee before responding. "That's a good idea. Whatever or _who_ever was behind that bush may very well be a threat to us or this zoo."

Rico growled and coughed up a bat and pretended to swing at something.

"Exactly, Rico. It's our job to protect this zoo and everyone in it."

Ravena poked at her fish. "Oh…so in that case, I probably shouldn't stay here for long..."

"What do you mean?" Private asked. Ravena sighed. "I can't help protect the zoo with you guys if at the same time I might be the one causing the problem."

"What makes you think you're causing any problems?" Kowalski asked.

"Well…that dream I had earlier made me wonder if maybe Dr. Blowhole knows where I am." She paused, and then continued. "And if he does, then it's only a matter of time until he does something about it. Just like last time."

Ravena downed the rest of her food, and then cleared her throat. "Most likely I never told you guys this, but ever since I was little, my parents have been hiding from . It wasn't until two years before I left for the military that they told me that _I _was the reason they were hiding from him. It turned out he wanted my parents to hand me over for some reason. Whatever it was, they _wouldn't_ hand me over, and Dr. Blowhole didn't take too kindly to that. Once he got them out of the way, he started going after me personally."

"How did he get your parents out of the way?"

"How do you think?" Ravena replied, looking straight at Private. He frowned a little, the brought his flippers to his beak as he realized what she was saying. "Oh, dear…I'm sorry I asked..."

She smiled again. "You don't have to be sorry. If anything, it was my fault…Anyway, I couldn't get away from him, so I figured the only way he couldn't get to me was to enlist.

"I thought I'd be safe, and I _was_, actually…until I ran into a familiar face from my past. It turned out that one of the animals at my old zoo—my best friend actually, his name was Jack—was working for Blowhole, and he had been following me the whole time. Once I saw him, I knew it was time to go. I got myself honorably discharged, and I spent the last few years moving from different zoos, making sure I couldn't be tracked in between. And my most recent zoo, this one, is where I met you guys."

There was silence for a few minutes. Then Ravena added, "When I heard the noise in the bush, I thought it was Jack, and that he had found me again. So that's why I need to leave soon. I can't drag you guys into this."

"Soldier, I'm not sure you've ever heard of the penguin credo," Skipper said, a smile on his face. "What's that?" Ravena asked.

"Never swim alone. Dr. Blowhole is our enemy, too, so whatever trouble you're in with him, I'm sure we can find a way to help."

"Yeah, we're in this together, Ravena!" Private said cheerfully.

"Uh-huh," Rico said. Kowalski grinned. "It doesn't seem likely that you'll win this one , Ravena," he added.

"For once, I don't want to," Ravena said, beaming. Whatever sadness she had felt earlier was all washed away. "You guys are too cool, I just want to hug all of you!"

"We high-five around here," Skipper said. Ravena smirked. "Even better." She high-fived all of them. "So, how much longer do we have until sacktime?"

Kowalski looked at his clipboard, then pushed some beads around on his abacus. "About a half hour. Why?"

"I want to work on that time machine with you again. If that's okay with you, of course."

"It's fine," Kowalski said. He really appreciated someone who actually wanted to help him with his inventions, even though it would take some getting used to. He went into his lab and dragged out the time machine, along with his tool box.

He handed her a screwdriver. "Think you can keep up?"

"Kowalski, you have no idea." She took the screwdriver and sat down with him, thinking,_ Maybe…maybe I can get used to this…_

***Meanwhile….***

It was almost pitch-black outside, around the zoo. All was quiet, save for the snoring of a few animals. Suddenly came the sound of faint static.

"…Yeah, she's definitely here, Boss," a voice said. "Should I move in now?"

Silence on the other end of the walkie-talkie. Then, "No. Wait another day. I have a feeling they won't be expecting us then."

Jack looked at the walkie-talkie before replying. "Okay."

He switched it off, and stared up at the sky. He'd never say it to his boss, but having to wait was going to be hell for him.

To go in now anyway would jeopardize the entire mission, he knew that. But he couldn't wait. He had to see her.

…**.Okay, that's where I leave you good people. You might be wondering what **_**exactly **_**went on between Ravena and Jack, and why she hates him so very, very much. Well, as I told Yokai Summoner, that isn't gonna be revealed until my next story, along with more info on her history. Thanks to all you nice people who voted on my poll, I'm gonna close it in a few days, but I pretty much have my answer now.**

**All right, the next chapter is sorta going to be from Kowalski's standpoint, but the ending is from Ravena's. Most likely it's gonna be a long one, based on how fast the wheels in my head are turning. I can promise you there's gonna be at least 3 more chapters, because I feel this story is coming to an end faster than I thought it would. Who knows, I may get struck by the flaming arrow of inspiration again and turn out more. **

**The next chapter's title is High Alert. Doesn't take much thought to figure out why, I can't think of much of a summary, I'm sorry, my mind is blank right now, which is why I'm babbling on like an idiot. Please review, my self-confidence just sorta dropped when I was writing this chapter so I'm not sure it turned out too good. All right, that's it, I have to go take a quiz online so see ya later! ^^**


	7. Chapter 6: High Alert

**..I'm soooooo eternally sorry for taking so long to update! That's what happens when you rely on the blasted school computers! Oh, man, once I get my own laptop I will laugh at you, lowly school computers! LAUGH, I TELL YOU! Muhahahahaha! …Okay, I'm glad that's over. Here's some rather unimportant stuff I shall share with you before I get this chapter started:**

**Recently I've been reading PoM stories about a pairing I normally wouldn't have looked twice at, but now I find really interesting. And what is it, you ask? Kowalski/Julien, that's what. I know, not exactly the most **_**popular **_**pairing [I didn't even know it **_**existed] **_**but, really, these stories are pretty cool, especially The Lemur and the Penguin, by fanfictiongoddess. Give them a try; you don't have to like them, though, no pressure.**

…**Holy crap, I just realized, once again, I didn't do something in the last chapter that I said I would do. I forgot to put Marlene and King Julien in the last chapter! I'm sorry these things just slip my mind; did I mention I have the world's lousiest memory? Well, this chapter has the perfect layout for them so you're definitely gonna be seeing more of them, I promise.**

**Okay, time for dedications: To EmoCupCake, you're totally awesome in too many ways, and your opinions rock! Plus I love your drabble fanfic, keep it up!**

…**Um, anymore? Um, yeah, to Yokai Summoner, thanks for reviewing, it always gets me grinning like an idiot all day long! Plus I just figured out what your penname means, that just makes it that much cooler!**

**Oh, I should mention, I'll be switching POV'S for this chapter, so I'll let you know when.**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own PoM, its characters, or anything besides my OCs, Kit-Kats, or Nacho Twisters…although I do buy them all the time. Oh, I don't own **_**Most Shocking**_**, either. But I do love that show, though.**

**All right, before I get distracted any further, here is Chapter 6!**

*******************Chapter 6: High Alert*********************

Kowalski slowly opened his eyes. He had just had the most bizarre dream involving giant dancing pencils. He was thinking whether or not it was time to lay off the candy, when he realized he wasn't in his bunk; he had been sleeping on the floor.

He made a motion to stand up when he felt something slide to the floor next to him. Looking down he had to hold back a laugh. Ravena, it seemed, had fallen asleep on the floor too, and the feathers that usually rested over one eye were now sticking up over her head in a fashion that reminded him of Rico's mohawk. The face she was making was pretty funny, too. He nudged her on the shoulder. "Ravena. Wake up," he said.

Ravena's only response was a loud snore, then a lazy attempt to swat away Kowalski's flipper. Kowalski suddenly had an idea. He walked into his lab, came back out with a mirror, and set it down a few inches from Ravena's face. Then he gave her another poke in the shoulder.

Ravena let out a tired groan. "Come _on_, five more minutes…" She opened her eyes sleepily, and that's when she saw her reflection in the mirror. She let out an ear-piercing scream. Kowalski just fell over laughing.

Ravena bolted to her feet and picked up the mirror. "What the…" She glared at Kowalski, who was now trying to catch his breath. "Kowalski, that wasn't funny!" she yelled. Then she smoothed down her feathers. "Man, I nearly gave myself a heart attack! What the hell is wrong with you?"

When the both of them calmed down, Kowalski pointed to the time machine. "We must have been working on it all night and fell asleep on it."

"Seems like it," Ravena agreed, rubbing her head with the wrench that was still in her hand. She looked around. "I'm surprised I didn't wake the others up." Walking over to the bunks, she frowned. "What's with the earmuffs?" she asked, pointing to Private.

"Oh, those. Skipper decided to implement those as a precaution in case Julien started another one of his all night dance parties."

"Pretty smart idea," Ravena smirked. She stretched. "…Want to take a walk?"

"I'm not sure Skipper would approve of that," Kowalski said, frowning.

Ravena gave him a sly smile. "Come _on_, just for a few minutes, we'll be back before they even notice. What's the harm?"

"The moment we leave, Skipper wakes up and finds us missing. Then he wakes up Private and Rico and the three of them search for us. When they find us and realize we aren't in any danger, Skipper will most likely punish us," he stated matter-of-factly.

Ravena blinked at him. "…That was just a rhetorical…never mind." She shook her head.

"All right, forget the walk. Let's just sit outside. I'll leave a note so Skipper won't blow his top."

She grabbed a nearby piece of paper and sat down. "..You guys can't read, right?"

"No," Kowalski said, handing her a marker.

"All right, I'll just draw a picture." She tapped her beak with the marker, then began drawing. A few seconds later, she held the paper up. "Ta-da!"

Kowalski looked at the picture. His beak twitched.

"..What? What's wrong with it?"

He smiled and pointed to the picture. "We don't have _that_ much of a difference in height. You made me look like a skyscraper or something."

Ravena put her flippers on her hips. "_Really?_ It's just a picture; you can make fun of my drawings later." Rolling her eyes, she climbed up the ladder and pushed away the fishbowl.

Kowalski followed behind her, and the two sat on the ledge, side by side, staring out into the distance.

"…You know, it's funny," Ravena said after a while.

"What is?"

"I never would have guessed I'd run into _you_, of all people, again. Talk about a blast from the past."

"That would explain why you looked so dazed during our introductions," Kowalski remarked.

"Well, yeah, that and…" Ravena suddenly stopped talking, her eyes slightly widening.

"Never mind."

Kowalski eyed her for a second. "What were you going to say?"

"Nothing you should worry your large brain about," Ravena said sweetly. "That would be a waste."

She looked up into the sky. It was a calm spring morning, and the gentle breeze blew the flowers from the trees through the air. She took a deep breath and smiled. "Something's gonna happen today," she said.

"What do you mean?"

She stood up. "Don't you think it's a little too nice out here? It's like…the calm before the storm. I don't like it."

Kowalski stood up too. "You really base the day's events on how the world around you looks at a given moment?"

"No…It's just that nothing good ever lasts long for me." Ravena sighed. "Living in my old zoo…making a new friend…going into the army…" She turned to him, a sad smile on her face. "Every time, it's like Fate handing you a candy bar and smacking you in the face with it."

Kowalski regarded her. He didn't really believe in Fate or karma or stuff like that. He based all his opinions on his findings in science. Ravena, he knew, was a penguin who played on both sides of the field; while she liked to prove most things scientifically, she also believed that there were some things that just weren't up to her, that there was a greater power out there that decided the way things went down.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, just enjoying each other's company.

"…Ravena," Kowalski suddenly said.

"Huh?"

"About yesterday…I have a feeling you didn't tell us everything."

Almost immediately Ravena stiffened. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, it just seemed to me like you were hiding something."

""Oh, come on, Kowalski," Ravena said, almost forcing a smile. "What made you think I was…hiding…something?" The false front she was putting up faltered at the look Kowalski was giving her. She sighed. "All right, all right, stop looking at me like that."

She silently cursed. _He always gets me with that stupid look…I've gotta find a way to get around it next time..._

"…Okay, I guess there were a _few_ things I neglected to tell you guys. I just don't want to walk down _that _memory lane again. I mean, I like you guys and all, but…"

She stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Besides, it's not like _you _haven't been keeping stuff from me, Wally!"

Kowalski rolled his eyes at her nickname for him. "Anything I haven't told you up to now is either unimportant, irrelevant, or classified."

Ravena raised an eyebrow. "But you should be used to telling me stuff like that! It was one of the only ways we could occupy ourselves back in the—"

She suddenly stopped mid-sentence and tackled Kowalski to the ground.

"What was _that_ for?"

"Shhh," she told him.

She looked around for a few seconds, and then straightened up. She walked over to an edge of the artificial ice floe, and picked up something. "_This _is what that was for."

She showed him what she was holding-a tranquilizer dart.

Kowalski took it from her, all the while thinking that her eyesight had to be _pretty _sharp to have seen it coming…and her hearing had to be even sharper to have heard it coming. It was almost thinner than a doctor's needle.

"Where exactly did you find this?" he asked her. She walked him over to the exact spot she had found the tranquilizer. He looked behind him, his eyes scanning around until he pointed to a spot in the bushes—the same spot where they had both gotten the feeling of being watched the other day.

"Whoever it is is gone now. But we should definitely tell Skipper, and it would be wise to warn the other animals, as well."

"Don't want whoever's after us harming the uninvolved?" Ravena added. Kowalski nodded.

"Fine. But I'm not done with you yet, so don't think you're off the hook."

"Off what hook? When was I in trouble?"

"When _weren't_ you?" Ravena remarked cryptically. She jumped down the hole back into the penguins' base.

Kowalski just shook his head.

**Jack's POV**

He should have known better. An attack like that would never have worked.

He knew it the second before her eyes narrowed and she tackled Kowalski to the floor. She _knew _it was coming. If he was going to complete this mission, he was going to have to use a more…_personal_ approach to it.

After all, it was Ravena herself who had reminded him, "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

So…_what_ was she to him, again?

An enemy, right? After all, she had joined a team of penguins who were working _against_ Dr. Blowhole, which basically pitted Ravena against him.

Or was she still a friend? There was no denying that they had spent most of their time around each other before Ravena left for the military, even when they didn't _want_ to be anywhere near each other. And there had to be _something _to the fact that the last time theymet, Ravena hadn't ripped him to shreds like, he had the feeling, she so very wanted to and probably would have done.

Jack sighed and looked through his binoculars at the two penguins standing at the edge of the ice floe. He suddenly felt a burning in the pit of his stomach when he watched Ravena and Kowalski talk. What was it exactly? Anger? Jealousy? He wasn't sure. He just was not happy seeing these two together.

In frustration, he brought a flipper down his face, trying to clear his thoughts. When he looked up, he saw Kowalski looking his way. He ducked down as fast as he could.

_Did he see me?_ Jack slowly poked his head up. He saw Kowalski's gaze linger for a few more seconds, then he turned back to Ravena.

Jack let out a breath. He didn't seem to have noticed him in the bushes.

As he watched the two of them jump back down into their base, an idea suddenly came to mind. _Those two seem to spend an awful lot of time together…Most likely capturing one would lead to the capture of the other, instead of going for both at the same time. So who do I go for first?_

A smile spread across his face. Knowing his former friend, the choice wasn't hard at all.

**Switching POVs again...**

* * *

"…Apple."

"Banana."

"…Cantaloupe."

"Dragonfruit."

"Eggplant."

"French fries."

"Grapes."

"Hot dog."

"Ice cream."

"Jellybeans."

"Kit-Kat."

"Lemon."

"Mango."

"Nacho Twisters."

"_What_?" Ravena burst out. Kowalski smirked. "I win again."

"But—but that's not fair!" Ravena complained. "You can't just throw something as _random_ as Nacho Twisters out there, that is _so_ cheating!"

"You said Kit-Kat, so I don't see why you're complaining."

"Nacho Twisters," Ravena muttered under her breath. "Of all the things…"

"What are you two doing?" Private asked as he waddled up to the two of them.

"Playing the Alphabet Game," Ravena answered, grinning. "We used to play all the time to keep our minds sharp back in the military…I noticed Kowalski here hasn't forgotten his old tricks," she added, shooting a glance at him.

The three of them were sitting at the table usually reserved for card games and chowtime. Skipper and Rico were watching _Most Shocking _on the television.

It was an unusually calm setting, especially following the high tension level of earlier in the day, when Skipper had called an emergency meeting at the zoovenir shop. Most of the animals at the zoo had taken the discovery of an unknown enemy pretty seriously, except, of course…

"_**What is with all the worrying?" Julien asked nonchalantly. "Clearly this person or animal, whoever they are being, is here to admire the kingliness of the king, me."**_

"_**I'm gonna admire the black eye he'll get if he doesn't shut his trap," Ravena said to Marlene.**_

_**Skipper waddled right up to Julien and scowled. "Listen up, Ringtail. This isn't a joke. This is a serious, potentially life-or-death situation. We don't know who this guy might be, who he's after, or how desperate he is to get what he wants. The only way you animals can be safe is to stay alert at all times. If you want to ignore everything we've been telling you so far, fine. But don't be surprised if this guy takes you—and your kingliness—out faster than Manfredi and Johnson got taken out by that pack of rabid wildebeest."**_

_**That seemed to shut Julien up pretty fast, at least for the moment. Skipper took a deep breath.**_

"_**All right, the team and I will do some recon and intel later on today, I'd advise you all to keep a sharp lookout for anyone suspicious. Stay on your toes."**_

Skipper had initially wanted the team to do some round-the-clock recon all day, but as Kowalski had pointed out, doing that would have just worn them out, seeing as their enemy most likely would not have attacked twice in at least a 6-hour time span, and also the fact that if a daytime attack had failed, a nighttime attack would be their next approach, and in the case of a surprise attack, they would need to be at full strength. So Skipper had relented, and agreed to give the team a few hours of rec time before they went out on their mission.

Ravena stood up. "I don't want to play anymore."

"Why not? It doesn't seem like a hard game," Private said.

"Well, I refuse to play with this guy anymore." As she walked away, they could hear her say, "Seriously, Nacho Twisters?"

Private looked at Kowalski, who had his head on the table, silently cracking up.

Private had never seen him laugh so hard. Actually, it was rare seeing him laugh ever. [RavenFeathers: *sigh*…I hate to say it, but it's true...]

"Um, Kowalski?" Private said after a while.

He looked up. "Yes, what is it, Private?"

"Well, if you don't mind me saying, you've seemed a lot…well…happier lately, ever since Ravena came here."

"Really?" Kowalski looked thoughtful. "I didn't notice. It's just that Ravena is a little more…_colorful_ than she used to be."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when we first met, Ravena did have her spontaneous moments, but most of the time she was all business. Now I know _why_, but still, she's changed."

"She really seems to get along with you."

"Don't worry, I'm sure she likes you three too. I've seen how Ravena handles people she's not very fond of….and I think you have too, Private," he added with another smirk.

Private looked confused for a moment, then he remembered Ravena's not so friendly response to Julien's intrusion the day she arrived at the zoo. "Right," he said, laughing a little himself.

**Jack's POV**

* * *

"…_It's never that easy, you know."_

Jack remembered her words as if she had just spoken them a minute ago, instead of years earlier. They still affected him the same way, too.

"_It's not like there's some 'make life easier' button we could just press when things get rough. We'd never get stronger that way. Sometimes bad stuff happens, and you've just gotta roll with the punches, even if that means throwin' a few yourself."_

He couldn't help but wince at the irony; those words had been spoken the day before Ravena's parents died….before her eyes lost that shine, before she gave up on an eventual 'happily ever after'…before she gave up on him.

"_You're a part of my _old_ life, Jack. Whether I want to admit it or not, you were a shoulder to cry on, and a flipper to hold. But now I don't need you anymore. If I were you, I'd make sure we don't cross paths again. I…I don't know what I'd do if I saw you again."_

He knew. He knew full well what she'd do if she saw him again, for she had done it the last time they met, mere months after she'd issued that warning. The bruises still hadn't completely healed.

And yet here he was, risking almost certain death to complete the mission Dr. Blowhole had given him.

"_I don't get it, Jack! Why the hell would you work for someone like that? Don't you see that it's only gonna end in misery for you, then he'll toss you aside as soon as someone better comes along?"_

_That would have been you,_ Jack realized bitterly. He kicked at a pebble on the side walk and looked up at the sky. It was a deep blood red, indicating that the sun was setting.

"_Sunsets are awesome, you know? I wish the sky could always stay like that…In the middle of day and night…But then we'd never know when it's time to sleep or when it's time to wake up… so forget that. It's still nice, though."_

Jack shook his head hard, almost violently so. This was no time for reminiscing about past, happier times. He had to focus. Blowing this mission would mean trouble from the boss. He looked up at the sky again. Night was falling fast, and he had to make his move.

"_Now or never, right? The obvious choice would be now. There'd _be_ no choice if it was never."_

_**Switching again...**  
_

_

* * *

_

Ravena let out a tired breath, blowing the feathers that hung over her face.

_Why did I agree to this again?_

When she had come to Skipper with the idea of a sparring match, she'd told him she didn't want him to hold back just because she was a girl. She also figured she'd needed the exercise after she had gone so long without someone to fight with, and she could use this opportunity to measure the skills of her new comrades.

Her analysis so far? She'd been slacking off _way_ too much.

Ravena snapped herself out of her thoughts just as Skipper's flipper came soaring past her beak. She raised her own flipper to intercept him, but a sudden blow to her stomach told her she shouldn't have worried about the flipper she was blocking.

She grinned, stepping back. "Right. Keep an eye on both flippers."

"At least I know you're learning from this," Skipper said, throwing another punch at her. "You sure you can take this?"

"Don't worry, not all girls are delicate flowers," was Ravena's retort, sidestepping his attack and countering with a kick. He easily dodged it, but Ravena used her momentum to slid under his outstretched flipper and pull it behind him. "That's two for me, and three for you," she announced. "I'm getting better at this!"

"Don't get overconfident," he warned. Suddenly he bent over, swinging Ravena over his back, slamming her on the floor. She laid there for a while, the wind knocked out of her.

Then she started laughing. "That was awesome!" she exclaimed between laughs. "I've gotta remember that one!"

"I like your attitude, soldier," Skipper said, helping her up. "But don't be so quick to assume victory. Always expect—"

"—the unexpected, yeah," Ravena finished. "I know."

She looked around and was about to ask Private if she could watch something on the television, when something suddenly occurred to her.

"Skipper…"she said slowly. "Where did Kowalski go?"

He opened his beak then closed it, thinking. "He said he was going topside to look at the constellations…and that'd he be back in—"

Skipper suddenly looked over at Rico. "Did you see Kowalski come back down?"

Rico shook his head. An icy cold chill spread through her body as she looked at Skipper.

"Oh, no," she whispered. The she raised her voice. "I'm gonna go look for him, okay?"

"Hold on, we should go with you—"

"No_, stay here!_" Ravena said sharply. Then she shook her head and tried to compose herself. "You guys should stay here and watch the HQ. If all of us left, that'd leave our base open for attack."

Turning away, she spoke in a low voice. "Besides, I have a feeling I'm the only one who knows what we might be dealing with." And without further explanation, she climbed the ladder out of the HQ.

* * *

Standing on the artificial ice floe, Ravena stared into the darkness. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but it had better end here," she murmured.

"Oh, believe me, I fully intend it to," a voice said.

Ravena had been thinking to herself, so she jumped at the sound, eyes widening.

"You seem off your game, Ravena," the voice commented. "Did I really catch you off guard?"

Eyes narrowing, she scowled. "Cut the crap, Jack," she spat. "Just tell me what you did with—"

"Your friend? Honestly, Ravena, after all the time we've known each other, can't we catch up on other things?"

"Don't even," she hissed. "I _don't_ know you anymore, and you definitely don't know me. Now, I ask you again—_what have you done with Kowalski?"_

"Oh, him? Don't worry, he's fine," Jack said dispassionately. "He was pretty hard to take down, actually. Kind of like he saw us coming. I never knew you could do that much damage with a clipboard and a pen…"

In spite of the situation, Ravena smiled with pride.

"But, eventually, we got him. It took a few tries, but the tranq did what it was supposed to."

"What are you planning on doing with him?"

"Nothing…if you decide to come with me."

Tension filled her body. She was standing absolutely rigid, her flippers curling into balls.

"If you don't, well…I guess Dr. Blowhole and I will have to have a little…fun with him..."

That was the last straw; Jack's casual tone sparked Ravena's fuse. She was going to unload on him, pound him into the concrete, make him sorry he even met her. "Over my dead body!" she snarled, whirling around to face him.

And instead found herself barrel-to-chest with a tranquilizer gun.

"I'd prefer "unconscious body" myself," Jack said, firing the gun. Ravena dropped like a stone without another word. Jack picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.

He heaved a heavy sigh. "…You always said you preferred the hard way," he said, and made his way back to his boss.

…**.Wow. That—the ending-was pretty intense. But, I'm finally finished, and that means I can get started on the next chapter, baby! But it might not take as long as this one did—and I am still impossibly sorry for that—so you've got that to look forward to, right? Once again, reviews and flames are welcome. Tell me what you thought! Sayonara for now! ^^**


	8. Chapter 7: Jack of All Trades

**Okay, after weeks and weeks of trying to update this blasted story, I've finally caught up with my fanfiction notebook. And that means I don't need it anymore! I'm just writing straight from my head now—and that, in my opinion, is the best way to write a story. Once again (you guys are probably getting tired of this), I'm **_**really**_** sorry it took me so long to update. I should really apologize to whoever reads my Danny Phantom story. I totally lost the next chapter (my dad's computer crashed), and although I have some of it in one of my many notebooks, I still can't quite remember where I was going to go with that story. But I'm workin' on it!**

**All right, let's see if I got any dedications for you nice people. Um…to everyone who reviewed the 6****th**** chapter, thanks! To everyone who plans on reviewing, I can wait for you. To all you crazy kids holding up the PoM fan club, I don't know what I'd do on the weekends without you! To everyone who was cheering for the Packers during the Super Bowl—I knew they'd win. It was pretty close, though. **

**Okay, that's it! No more meaningless distractions for me—besides school. Time to get started with chapter 7!**

***********Chapter 7:**** Jack of All Trades*******

Silence. Then…_Drip._

Drop of water number 16. And as expected, 12 seconds after drop of water number 15.

Kowalski stared straight ahead as Dr. Blowhole drove slowly back and forth on his segway. Neither of them had said a word since Kowalski had woken up.

_Drip._ Number 17. 12 more seconds.

The whirring of the segway stopped, and Kowalski blinked. Dr. Blowhole was looking right at him. "…I suppose you know why you're here," he finally said.

_Drip._ "I have a theory," Kowalski answered after a while, still staring straight ahead.

"I'd like to hear it."

Kowalski paused at this, wondering how to respond. After a while, he decided not to aggravate his current situation, and continue this conversation with tightrope-like civility.

"I suppose I'm here as bait to lure the others out here without myself to form a plan of action, so that you can take them out?"

"Once again, Kowalski, top marks," Blowhole conceded. "While that _is_ my primary objective, I'm afraid I've got an …ulterior motive for bringing you here."

_Drip. _Fifteen seconds. The leak must have slowed down.

"I had a feeling you did," Kowalski admitted. "And the fact that you're even having this conversation with me would mean that you've already got her, am I right?"

"Yes, yes you are." The dolphin smirked.

Kowalski sighed**.**

**

* * *

**

_Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. Tap-_

_"_Will you _stop _that? Jeez, are you trying to drive me insane?" Ravena shouted, glaring across the room at Jack. He looked over at her, surprised.

"No," he admitted. "I was trying to be quiet."

"Well, seeing as that's the only noise in this stupid cell, you didn't do a very good job," Ravena snapped.

"It isn't the only noise now," Jack pointed out, indicated that he had stopped tapping his foot.

Ravena just groaned, slumping against the wall. "How much longer do I have to stay in here? It's seriously depressing."

"As long as it takes. Or at least 'till the boss gets here," was all Jack said.

"_Your _boss," Ravena corrected. "If he gets his way, he'll be your boss too," Jack retorted.

Staring at the ceiling, Ravena let out a breath. She'd given up trying to figure a way out of the cell, and was attempting to make the most of her protracted stay here. Pretty much the only thing keeping her from taking up her old habit of banging her head against the nearest object when things got too boring was the fact that Kowalski was in this place with her...somewhere, and Skipper and the others were going to be on their way to get them...somehow.

"Jacky-boy, where's Kowalski?" Ravena suddenly asked. Jack's brows raised.

"Do you really think I would tell you?" he replied incredulously. "And don't call me Jacky-boy, I hate that."

"I know." Ravena gave him a half-smile. There was an odd silence for a few minutes. "O-_kaaay_..." Jack said, turning his back on her.

By now, Ravena was sincerely beginning to enjoy herself. _So, all the old buttons are still there, huh?_

She sighed again. "Do you even know where he is?"

"Of course I know where he is," Jack said without turning back around.

"_Suuure_ you do," she said, crossing her flippers. "I bet you're just sayin' that to try and make me think you've got an advantage over me. You're just as clueless right now as I am, aren't you?"

"You're not gonna get me to tell you where he is, Ravena," he answered. "Well, duh, because you don't know. I thought we went over this," Ravena told him flatly.

What Jack didn't know was that ever since Ravena had resumed talking to him, she had been slowly moving towards the far right wall of her cell. Leaning her head against the wall, she listened hard. All she could hear was the faint sound of...dripping water?

_Jeez, _that_ sound would be enough to drive me crazy, too. Don't they ever do maintenance checks in this place?_

"We didn't go over anything! Stop playing this stupid game with me, Ravena! I _do _know where he is, and I will never tell you!"

"No, I don't think you do," Ravena replied quite cheerfully, "because you wouldn't be so worked up about it. If you knew, you wouldn't care no matter _what_ I said. Did you know," she added on sudden inspiration, "that the quicker you are to get angry, the less intelligent you are?"

"_Shut up!_" Jack shouted. "You don't seem to realize that you are in the worst position possible to be trying to get under my skin right now! I'd watch what I said from now on if I were you, because as long as you're in that cell, life can be a living hell for you!"

There was dead silence. Even that dripping water seemed to slow down. Then, finally, finally, _finally, _she could hear other voices.

"It sounds like my other captive's already rubbed my agent the wrong way," Dr. Blowhole remarked conversationally. "She tends to do that a lot, doesn't she?" a voice that sounded unmistakably like Kowalski's agreed.

_Bingo_, Ravena thought, leaning away from the wall. All this time, Kowalski had been right next to her. _Add that to my list of reasons I haven't gone psycho yet..._

Frowning, she turned back to Jack. "It's not like I don't already know what a living hell feels like. That was a pretty empty threat."

That seemed to have thrown Jack off. "W-whatever," he said, shaking his head. "I think it might be time for me and the boss to switch sides, if you catch my drift." He tapped the earphone he was wearing with a smirk.

He smiled, but took a step back as it dawned on Ravena exactly what he meant, and she launched herself towards him, gripping the steel bars so hard Jack was glad they'd reinforced them before they brought Ravena here. "I swear, if you even _breathe_ near him, I'll-"

"Honestly, in a few minutes, I don't think you'll be in any condition to make good on that threat, whatever it might have been." He dismissed her with a wave, clearly recovered. "Have fun," he added cryptically, turning around and walking away.

Ravena leaned against the wall and let out an annoyed breath, blowing the feathers from her face again.

* * *

Kowalski frowned, slightly disconcerted. Blowhole's face had just gone from perfectly placid to almost savagely satisifed. "It would appear that you have a visitor, Kowalski," he told the penguin. "Be sure to show him your best side."

Without another word, he drove on his segway out a side door. A few seconds after his departure, a penguin walked in, shut the door, and leaned against it, eyeing Kowalski with a strange expression on his face.

"...I take it your name is Jack," Kowalski said, finally breaking the silence. Jack blinked. "Yes, it is," he conceded. "Ravena told you about me?"

"Briefly..I remember her saying that you were her best friend at her old zoo until she found out you were working for Blowhole."

Jack passed a flipper over his eyes before responding. "Yeah, that's about right," he sighed. "Did she tell you about what happened with her parents?"

"Blowhole had them killed because they wouldn't hand her over to him." As he spoke, Kowalski wondered where Jack was going with this conversation.

"Right again...and did she tell you _who_ killed them?"

Kowalski thought. "...No," he answered. Jack nodded. "Uh-huh..."

Jack's response immediately sounded suspicious to Kowalski. Abandoning all pretense, he asked, "It was you, wasn't it?"

Jack's eyes shot towards him, and for a very long time, he didn't answer. "...In retrospect, it was one of the worst things I've ever done, and I've done some pretty bad things. At the time, though, I was so sure it'd would make her realize that she really didn't have any other options."

"There's always other options," Kowalski recited, smiling in spite of himself and the situation.

"So, it was you who taught her that," Jack noted. "So, seeing as you both think there isn't a single problem that can't be solved, how do you think you're getting out of here?"

Kowalski gave him a flat look. "Well, I doubt it'd be through the front door," he said. "I think you know I'm not going to tell you, so what was the point of even asking?"

"I was just interested in your response." _What's with this guy? _Kowalski couldn't help but wonder.

More silence, and then the broken water pipe began dripping with renewed enthusiasm.

"So," Jack said, "You know why you're here, and you know why Ravena's here. I think it'd be in _both _of your best interests to just give the boss what he wants."

"And why is that?"

"Because things are about to get a lot less bearable for you two, that's why."

* * *

"Before you even open that mouth of yours, the answer's no," Ravena said flatly, cutting Dr. Blowhole off. "It's always been no, and it will always _be _no."

Her captor remained silent, so Ravena kept going. "And, I'm kinda curious about this..why did you really capture Kowalski before you did me? I mean, the chances of getting _him_ to stay are probably even less than the chances of getting _me_ to stay-and we're dipping into the negative half of the number line with that one. Plus Skipper and the others are probably wise to what's going on and are figuring out the best way to get here and kick your dolphin butt."

"They probably are," Dr. Blowhole said. "But they won't succeed, no matter what they do."

Ravena glared at him. "And why is that?"

"Because, Ravena, I know you three too well-you, Kowalski, _and _Skipper," Dr. Blowhole elaborated, in response to Ravena's raised brow. "Believe it or not, I know you all too well."

"Oh, really?" There was an unmistakable note of derision in her voice." "Try us."

"First off, you, Ravena, have a very strong will. That, combined with your stubbornness and fairly high threshold for pain, makes you very hard to break. That being said, when something _does_ get through to you, it tears down all those walls you work so hard to build up. That's why you're afraid to let anybody get close to you."

He paused, but Ravena stayed quiet, watching him, so he continued. "When someone manages the difficult task of getting past your defenses, you tend to become extremely protective of them, not only for _their_ safety, but yours as well, because at that point you're not the only one who knows your secrets."

"...I don't see what this has to do with Skipper and Kowalski," Ravena said finally, still eyeing him.

"Don't you? I think you know exactly what this has to do with the two of them. As far as opening up to others, there are only two other animals in the world you've _really_ ever bonded to, besides your family-Jack, and Kowalski. Am I right?"

Ravena blinked at him. "Are we getting to the point yet?"

Blowhole smiled. "Almost there. Now, I'd also be right in saying that if you feel Kowalski, or anyone he knows, is threatened in any way, you'd go flat-out postal on the threat. But if your retaliation would end up _hurting_ any of them, you'd surrender. Right?"

"Right-wait a minute. Wait a _minute_..." Ravena's eyes widened.

"I have a feeling that Kowalski might do the same. And if Skipper feels that any of his teammates are in danger, he's not just going to barge in and start-how did you put it?-kicking everyone's butt."

"You wouldn't." It was a statement, but from Ravena's expression, Blowhole knew she was really asking him.

"Yes, I really would." He steered himself over to a switchboard. "Tell me, have you ever heard of neuroshock torture?"

* * *

**...Yeah, I _hate_ to leave it like this-personally I hate when a chapter ends like that-but I just realized that the next chapter would be a whole lot better if I started it before the neuroshock stuff. As for if that's actually real...I don't know. Probably. It's a sick, sick world we live in. I read about water torture, though, and _that _is some sick stuff. The whole broken pipe thing came from that-it's, to me, torture enough just to have to _listen_ to dripping water. Anyway, the next chapter might be a long while coming caise I'm multitasking again-workin' on this, a FictionPress story, and a cartoon idea. I'm giving most of my attention to the cartoon thing, though-seeing as it's my ultimate dream to be watching my own work on TV, that's understandable, right? **

**Okay, a few parting words. You guys all know that "When life gives you lemons..." thing, right? Well, I have one of my own: "When life gives you lemons, plant a lemon tree. Why would you make lemonade with them? That'll only make one pitcher, and when you're done you're probably gonna be wishing you had some _more_ of it. But you won't, because you used them all. So plant a lemon tree, make more lemonade, and maybe even sell a few. That way you'll have lemonade _and_ money." Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Yup, I actually spend my time thinking about this stuff.**

**And for all who watched the new Penguins episodes on the 19th, they were so frickin' awesome! They go right up there with my all-time favorites, and not many actually make it to that list. My personal favorite of those four though, was definitely Danger Wears A Cape. Even though I'd already watched the Comic Con thing, seeing it animated was sooooo much funnier. If Penguins doesn't win Favorite Cartoon this year, ther's definitely a conspiracy going on. Don't forget to vote, people!**

**-Saying all she had to say, RavenFeathersOfDarkness**


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